ID-INFO blog
The true face of IBMi
Have you ever heard these phrases about the IBM i? The AS400 is outdated”, “It’s an obsolete machine” or “Does it still exist? Today, we’re sure you can still hear them.
Today, we’re sure you can still hear them…
When we speak of AS400 or IBM i, we’re referring to IBM’s platform for the enterprise. She’s old, that’s a fact. But it remains very stable, reliable and well-designed. I’ve been working on this machine for almost 30 years, and have known it as AS400, ISeries, IS, and now IBM i. And I’ve been hearing these phrases for almost as long.
When our “specialists” of the thing pronounce these sentences, they say in fact 2 things (half-words):
1- I don’t know anything
2- I want people to know.
It’s not the machine that’s obsolete, but the image people and “specialists” have of it. Many think it’s outdated. Outdated, yes, but by what? How about comparing like with like?
I’ll spare you the notions of unique addressable space, independence between hardware and software, and all the other goodies that only the AS400 has in the world. Let’s focus on DB2, its database. So let me ask you a question: what is a database with a computer around it?
I insist on clarifying the meaning of my question: I’m not talking about a computer with a database next to it, but about the notion of a whole.
A database is a collection of information referenced by location information, but it can also be referenced by categorization information. Some can be done in both ways.
This database is not only defined as such, it can also be characterized. It has its own history, its own modus operandi, but it’s still a database with a computer built around it!
Yes, I just said that. What if we saw the AS400 as a mainframe rather than a “big server”? Wouldn’t that be an AS400? A mainframe? Admittedly smaller than one of those monsters that run our banks (IBM mainframes), but in spirit it’s exactly that. A small mainframe.
The same person who announces, with a straight face, that the AS400 is obsolete, would be the same person who would declare that container ships are obsolete, basing his naval legitimacy on the fact that he subscribes to “Hors-Bord Magazine”. You get the idea.
The AS400 was built around DB2 to manage this database, which is its raison d’être. Pipes, access and communication, memory management – everything has been designed to handle this super-filebox. A bit like an aircraft carrier built around the idea of managing a flying airport. It has been designed to operate on its own, with a minimum of personnel. Designed to be as autonomous as possible, and to break down as infrequently as possible, because it must be seen as the central tool of the information system, the “thing” on which we can and must rely. Not like the toy that satisfies the ego of the software engineer who has to install add-ons, patches, memory and software every Monday morning to make it work.
So, is the AS400(sorry, IBM i) outdated? But by whom?
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